It is now official -- I am retired as of the end of June, 2014. I shall post here only when there is a need to do so -- as in if I teach as a guest lecturer. Feel free to make use of my materials -- just provide credits if you re-use my material.

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Friday, September 27, 2013

Contact me by e-mail at: kbenoy@nvsd44.bc.caThis blog provides lesson plans for each week. Look ahead to see where we are going. Look back to see what you might have missed. All assignments are provided here. If anything is underlined, click on it to bring up the document or, in the case of videos, link to an online version of what was scheduled for seeing in class or as enrichment.So you just want to see photos of Sutherland activities? Click here to see my Picasa Albums. Things that are static -- not requiring regular change -- can be found at my website:http://sites.google.com/site/kbenoy/. Admittedly, I do not update this site regularly, so there may be dead links.Social Studies 8

Your Geography unit test is on Monday, September 30. It will be worth about 75 marks and will involve using your atlas to answer questions posed to you. You will not be able to use your Geographical Essentials text. Only a small amount of material must be memorized. The main thing is to be able to do tasks assigned to you, just as you have done while answering the various skill worksheets we assigned during this unit.

Monday, September 30 - Unit Test on Geography. If you finish early, sign out the new text book and look through it.

Tuesday, October 1 - Test post-mortem. Look over exam results and what they mean. Sign out new texts and return old ones. What is History? Why study it? PowerPoint. Introduction to History text and to SQ3R study method. Other ways to study History: flashcards , timelines - handout & introduction. See examples of the new Facebook timeline concept - but think carefully before loading personal material online -- anyone can access it and it and content may never disappear! Timeline assignment - personal/family/world - 10 marks, due Wednesday.

Wednesday, October 2 - Time Line Field Trip. Introduction to the Greco-Roman world. Watch What the Romans Did For Us; Life of Luxury (Part 1, Part 2) & What the Romans Did For Us; Ahead of Their Time (Part 1, Part 2).While watching the videos list Roman inventions that we need and use today. Read Patterns of Civilization, pp. 2-6. Do #1-6, p. 6.

Thursday, October 3 - Hand in timeline assignment. Take up #1-6, p. 6. Video - Roman City and questions.

Friday, October 4 - Take up the video questions on David Macauley's Roman City if we did not do so last class. Introduction to Classical Architecture -- how the Romans built and how this knowledge is the foundation of modern building today. PowerPoint on Roman Architecture-- from Mr. Benoy's Comparative Civilizations 12 course. If we have time, we will watch What the Romans Did for Us; Arteries of the Empire (Part 1, Part 2). Read the handout and do questions for homework. Also complete the Architecture Hunt assignment -- value: 10 marks and due next Monday. Are you interested in learning more about Roman engineering? Check out the BBC's animation on the Roman Colosseum.

Social Studies 11

The Plan for this week is now updated due to my planning mistake last week. We still need to complete Judiciary material, so your test on the Legislative/Executive/ Judicial Branches is postponed to next Wednesday (when it is possible to have additional test writing time). Expect the mark breakdown to be as follows: 35 multiple choice questions (1 mark each), 2 from 4 long answer questions (6 marks each), and one essay question on what should be done with the Canadian Senate (12 marks - 2 x 6). The total is, therefore, most likely to be out of 59 marks.

Tuesday, October 1 - Take up #1-6, p 196 (red book) and #2-4, p. 246 (blue book). Take up homework. Discuss Aboriginal self-government. Mayor Mussatto's PowerPointon Municipal affairs. Complete this fact-finding Internet worksheet on local government to help prepare you for Thursday's test - for next class.

Wednesday, October 2 - Take up the fact-finding worksheet on municipal government.We will finish anything not completed on Tuesday and regarding Municipal government. Overview of the Judiciary - PowerPoint - go to the section on the Judiciary. Read pp. 270-275. Do #1-3, p. 275.

Your unit test on Topic #2 is on Wednesday, though we will begin the next unit just before this. Topic #2 work is due by 4:30 p.m. on the same day. Expect the mark breakdown to be: roughly as follows: 60 multiple choice questions (1 mark each), 10 map items (1 mark each), 5 definitions (2 marks each) and 2 long answer questions (10 marks each). The total is, therefore, out of roughly 100 marks.

Important Notice: We are a bit behind in our content and I have had a few requests to move the test to Friday for assorted reasons. I think this is a reasonable request and will do so to ensure that we get through all of the material on time. We may begin the next (Government) unit on Thursday, if time permits.The test for chapters 4 and 5 (not 1-3 as first, mistakenly, posted) will be on Thursday, October 3. Expect the mark breakdown to be roughly as follows: 40 multiple choice questions (1 mark each) and 3 from a choice of 8 long answer questions (6 marks each) for a grand total of 58 marks. 25 flash cards will earn 5 bonus marks.

Monday, September 30 - Take up #1-6, p. 97, #1-7, p. 102 and #1-6, p. 105. Complete any remaining Chapter 4 PowerPoint. Watch Gwynne Dyer being interviewed about his book Climate Wars on the effects of Climate Change on world conflict. While watching, take notes on 1) Why is climate change likely to lead to conflict? and 2) Why is climate change more dangerous than most people realize? Worldmapper animation. Read pp. 130-132. Do #1-2, p. 131, #1-4, p. 132 and Further Thought #1-6, p. 132.

Wednesday, October 2 - Take up homework. Finish the Chapter 5 PowerPoint. Complete any video material not done on Tuesday.

Thursday, October 3 - Video: Nova; The Fragile Mountains (sorry, this is not available online). This is a very old video, but the intermediate technology solutions posed for Nepal's problems are still equally valid today. While watching the documentary, identify Nepal's problems that the film identifies, and what is being done about them. Learn how to reduce your own carbon footprint by watching Ethical Man episodes on BBC -- search for and find episodes on Youtube or elsewhere. Begin Government material - Read the What is Governmenthandout. Do the questions for Monday.

Friday, October 4 - Unit test on chapters 3 and 4. We will begin the Government unit next. Sign out new texts. Read pp. 2-6. Do #1-4, p. 6.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Contact me by e-mail at: kbenoy@nvsd44.bc.caThis blog provides lesson plans for each week. Look ahead to see where we are going. Look back to see what you might have missed. All assignments are provided here. If anything is underlined, click on it to bring up the document or, in the case of videos, link to an online version of what was scheduled for seeing in class or as enrichment. So you just want to see photos of Sutherland activities? Click here to see my Picasa Albums. Things that are static -- not requiring regular change -- can be found at my website:http://sites.google.com/site/kbenoy/. Admittedly, I do not update this site regularly, so there may be dead links.Social Studies 8

Your Geography unit test is coming soon. Expect it on Monday, September 30. It will be worth about 75 marks and will involve using your atlas to answer questions posed to you. You will not be able to use your Geographical Essentials text. Only a small amount of material must be memorized. The main thing is to be able to do tasks assigned to you, just as you have done while answering the various skill worksheets we assigned during this unit.

Wednesday, September 25 - Library Orientation with Ms. Clark. This is a break from our normal unit.

Thursday, September 26 - Again, we have library orientation -- this time in the library computer lab.

Friday, September 27 - Back to normal! Take up the second time zone worksheet. Geography Review materials.Do the first section and then any sections that gave you trouble as we worked through the unit. The Unit Test for Geography is next class.

Social Studies 11

We just had a unit test, so the next test is a couple of weeks away.

Monday, September 23 - Take up #1-3 in the sidebar on p. 233. Reminder of the physical layout of Parliament. Video: Government in Canada; Citizenship in Action; Our National Parliament; the Inside Story (sorry, unavailable online) and questions. Discuss the job of a Member of Parliament -- within and outside the House of Commons. Go online to read On the Job With a Member of Parliament. Read pp. 226-231 and do #1-3, p. 231.

Tuesday, September 24 - Take up #1-3, p. 231. Pros and cons of the current Senate setup. Be sure to look at the Senate material atMapleleafweb. Essay Writing tips. Please note: there will be an essay question on what should be done with the Canadian Senate on the next unit test. Read pp. 47-54 in the Red Government text. Do #1-4, p. 48 and #1-5 and #7 on p. 54. For homework you must also come up with a three-column table listing reasons to: keep the Senate as it is, reform (change) it, or keep it as it is now.

Wednesday, September 25 - Take up #1-4, p. 48 and #1-5 & 7 p. 54. Introduction to the Executive Branch. Go over the role of the Queen, Governor General, Prime Minister, and Cabinet. Read "constitutional Monarchy" on pp. 222-224 of Counterpoints. Also read "The Governor General" on p. 234. Identify points for and against getting rid of the monarchy (Queen and Governor General). Should Canada become a republic? Why or why not? Identify at least 3 reasons for and 3 reasons against doing so. Look at theMonarchist League of Canada and Canadian Monarchist Onlinewebsites for arguments supporting the monarch. See Citizens for a Canadian Republic for arguments against. There has also been an active debate on this topic in Australia and New Zealand. Web searches about their debates would also prove useful.

Thursday, September 26 - Take up homework. discuss the role of the P.M., Cabinet, and bureaucracy. Watch Yes, Minister episode. While watching, decide who really runs a government department -- the Minister? or the Permanent Secretary (in Canada, the job is called the Deputy Minister)? Read pp. 234-240. Do #1-4, p. 240. Assignment: value 5 marks. Identify by name each member of the current federal (national) cabinet and be sure to give the name of each department. This is an assignment -- not a homework check -- so accuracy is an important part of the mark.

Friday, September 27 - Take up #1-4, p. 240 and hand in the Cabinet assignment. Discuss lobbying and pressure groups. Look at the list of institutionalized groups on p. 259 of Counterpoints. Click here for an online list of federal lobby groups -- interest groups and social movements. Divide into groups with printed or onlinebackground information. Each group should discuss how to make the public buy into supporting their position. How should the argument be "spun" to maximize public support for this position? After discussing as a group, each individual should now work on the Poster Assignmentplease note; this is an individual assignment and not a group one as indicated on the online version of the assignment. It is also due next class and not at the end of this block as the online version says. Please do this on regular (8.5 x 11 inch, blank) paper. The assignment is valued at 10 marks and is due Monday. Also read pp. 258-267. Do #1-2, p. 264 and #1-3, p. 267 of Counterpoints.

History 12

Please note. In addition to keeping up with work, everyone should be working on Essay #1 on nationalism. The assignment can be found on the bottom of the plan for Topic #1.

You must be sure to visit The History Guidefor excellent background material supporting this course.

The next unit test is a long way off. A mark breakdown will be published once we get closer to it.

The Chapter 1-3 test will be on Friday (Please note that this is a postponement from what was advertised when this blog was first posted. We will begin the material for the next chapter on Wednesday and Thursday -- but the new material will not be on the test.). Expect the mark breakdown to be as follows: 65 multiple choice questions and two from a choice of 10 long answer questions - valued at 6 marks each. The total is, therefore, out of 77 marks. 30 properly done flash cards will earn 5 bonus marks. We may or may not test chapters 4 & 5, depending on how our time goes -- but this material needs to be studied as it will be part of the material tested on the final examination.I expect chapters 3 and 4 to be tested the following Thursday. That test will likely have the following breakdown: 40 multiple choice questions (1 mark each) and 3 from a choice of 8 long answer questions (6 marks each) for a grand total of 58 marks. 25 flash cards will earn 5 bonus marks.

Monday, September 23 - Take up #1-8, p. 61, #1-5, p. 64 and #1-2, p. 70. Take up homework. Watch Hans Rosling's Chimpanzees Know Better, to see how countries and populations are and are not different around the world. Ch. 3 PowerPoint - be sure to do so yourself for homework if we cannot do so in class. Read pp. 70-73. Do #1-8, p. 73 and 1, 2, 5 and 7, p. 74 in "Further Thought."

Tuesday, September 24 - Take up #1-8, p. 73 and 1, 2, 5 and 7, p. 74 in "Further Thought."Watch Gwynne Dyer's Escaping From History (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4), & do the following questions: 1) What are living conditions like in Mexico City? 2) Why are people abandoning the countryside? 3) What does Dyer believe must happen for the developing world to get their fair share of consumer goods? Consider the movement of jobs from rich countries to the poor through globalization today. Is this what Gwynn Dyer predicted in the 1990's? Study for the Chapter 1-3 test next class. Read pp. 83-87. Do #1-3, p. 84, #1-4, p. 85, #1-2, p. 86 and #1-3, p. 87.

Wednesday, September 25 - Take up #1-3, p. 84, #1-4, p. 85, #1-2, p. 86 and #1-3, p. 87. PowerPoint for Chapter 4 - Note -- we will move very quickly through this. Be sure to scan the PowerPoint again, on your own time, in order to take good notes.Read pp. 88-93. Do #1-4, p. 89, #1-5, p. 91 and #1-5, p. 93.

Thursday, September 26 - Video: History’s Harvest (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) and do the viewing guide questions. If time we will look at more of theChapter 4 PowerPoint. Read pp. 93-106. Do #1-6, p. 97 (but note "1997" in #3 should read "1973" and the typographical error in #5, where "grater" should read "greater"), #1-7, p. 102, #1-6, p. 105 and Further Thought #1-4, p. 108. Be sure to investigate the CBC Archives material on the GMO debate. Identify arguments for and against producing genetically modified foods. Study for the test next class. Please note: Because of the test tomorrow, the homework is not due until Monday's class.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Contact me by e-mail at: kbenoy@nvsd44.bc.caThis blog provides lesson plans for each week. Look ahead to see where we are going. Look back to see what you might have missed. All assignments are provided here. If anything is underlined, click on it to bring up the document or, in the case of videos, link to an online version of what was scheduled for seeing in class or as enrichment. So you just want to see photos of Sutherland activities? Click here to see my Picasa Albums. Things that are static -- not requiring regular change -- can be found at my website:http://sites.google.com/site/kbenoy/. Admittedly, I do not update this site regularly, so there may be dead links.Social Studies 8

We began with a Geography unit. Expect a unit test at the end of this, worth around 75 marks. This will be in roughly a week. It will be based on map reading and the use of Canadian Oxford World Atlas (7th edition). We will also have a number of quizzes worth from 5-30 marks throughout the unit. You will not always be warned ahead of time about quizzes -- so it is important to keep up.

If you are struggling, be sure to see me outside of class for extra help!

Wednesday, September 18 - Take up any problems with Latitude #1. Countries game. Review videoon seasons and important lines of latitude. Quiz on important lines of latitude. Hand in quiz and pick up and start working on Latitude #2worksheet -- to be completed for homework.

Friday, September 20 - Professional Day. Use the time to catch up and complete work.

Social Studies 11

Expect your first unit test on Ideologies/Parties/Elections to be on Wednesday, September 17. I will a try to schedule tests when you can continue writing into break or lunch time if you need to do so. The mark breakdown is most likely to be as follows: 30 multiple choice question (1 mark each); 4 items to label on a diagram (1 mark each); 5 definitions - you write a sentence or two about each term or name (2 marks each); 2 long answer questions from a choice of 4 options (6 marks each). The test should, therefore, be out of about 66 marks. 25 properly done flash cards, if submitted in class at the start of the test, will earn 5 bonus marks on the test.

Monday, September 16 - Reminder of flash card policy for tests (see above). Take upI Can Vote(-- ***we did not assign this on Friday, so I did not take it up today. If you can look at and handle the material it is helpful, but we will now make it entirely optional)and #1-3 & 5, p. 115.Elections handout. Elections in Canada – The first-by-the-post system. (If time; proportional representation too). Read Government pp. 88-97. Do #4, p. 97. Research Canadian federal political parties. Which party would you support in the next federal election? Why? About a half page or so of writing is needed to adequately answer this question. Value: 10 marks, due Tuesday (next class). Find political party information atElections Canada's registered political parties page. Watch this video account of the problems with first past the post elections.

Tuesday, September 17 - Take up #4, p. 97. Elections lesson – day 2. Various voting systems. BCSTVanimation. Assignment: What electoral system do you feel is best? Why? (due Thursday, September 19. About 1 page).

Friday, September 20 - Professional Day. Go over anything that gave you trouble in the first unit -- remember, you will be tested on it again on the final exam. Why not look at the sample provincial exam posted by the Ministry of Education -- click here and move on to see the test -- see how it is set up and the kind of questions it poses.

History 12

Please note. In addition to keeping up with work, everyone should be working on Essay #1 on nationalism. The assignment can be found on the bottom of the plan for Topic #1.

Your Topic #1 Test is in Monday's class. Expect the following breakdown in marks: 15 multiple choice questions (1 mark each), 10 definitions -- where I give you the definition and you give me the term or name (1 mark each), 5 definitions -- where I give you the term or name and you provide the definition or why the person is important (2 marks each), and one essay (worth 15 marks - with 5 for composition and 2 x 5 for content). The test will most likely be out of 50 marks. Please note; this is an adjustment on what was posted earlier. I have reduced the value of the essay as a portion of the total, moving from a 6 mark rubric to one of 5 marks.

You must be sure to visit The History Guidefor excellent background material supporting this course.

Click here for the plan for Topic #1. (Essay #1 can be found at the bottom of the back page).

Last week, when I posted an expected date for your unit test, I miscalculated, forgetting we still have chapter 3 to complete. I rather expect the test will be on Thursday, September 26. Expect the mark breakdown to be as follows: 65 multiple choice questions and two from a choice of 10 long answer questions - valued at 6 marks each. The total is, therefore, out of 77 marks. 30 properly done flash cards will earn 5 bonus marks.

Monday, September 16 - Hand in your thesis/3 supporting and 1 opposing point plan today or tomorrow (10 marks assigned -- based on clarity of the thesis and workable points) Note: Because of a very large amount of History marking today, I made an executive decision to put this off for another class -- after all, I will not have time to get to it tonight. Counterpoints text signed out. Take up #1 on p. 37. Look at the population pyramids for Japan and Nigeria and go over reasons why their shapes are so different. PowerPoint - continued. Watch Hans Rosling'sWhat Stops Population GrowthWe did not complete this in class -- consider finishing it at home. Doom and gloom video. Continue the chapter 2 PowerPoint -- looking at Population theories. Read pp. 37-41. Do #1-6, p. 39 , #1-6, pp. 41-42. I highly recommend that you read pp. 322-328 in your blue Counterpoints text -- material on the Demographic Transition model always appears on the final exam and will be prominent on your chapters 1-3 unit test. Sidebar: Doom and gloom text at DieOff.Org - read p. 15, an excerpt from William Catton's Overshoot; The Ecological Base of Revolutionary Change. Read a brief synopsis of Boserup's ideas from York University. Julian Simon was another writer who felt population growth is a good thing. Part of his book Population Matters: People, Resources, Environment, and Immigration is available online.